Extra Round Up December 17th

What's up my peeps?

Just a lil extra note this week ahead of Sunday cos the previous one was so scant. WWPCDN is back with my editor and I’m awaiting her comments tomorrow which is always ever so slightly nail biting ! Like I said, its way over the word count, so whatever doesn’t make the final edit for the sake of space, Ill share on here. I remember when I was a masters student, I found cutting my work down SO difficult, but TIMES. HAVE. CHANGED. I actually love taking the cutting knife to it and just chop, chop, chopping, before further honing. Well perhaps the further honing part is a bit less fun, its quite painstaking, but the cutting is fun and I certainly don’t have the sentimentality to the work I once had. I now know that whatever I don’t use always gets repurposed and I appreciate the value in the articulation of an idea or a concept even if I don’t publish it at the time.

Inspired by Small Axe, I’ve been revisiting some of the British-Trinidadian Darcus Howe later broadcast work. They’ve got White Tribe https://www.channel4.com/programmes/white-tribe/on-demand/26974-003up on C4 -if you're in the UK- and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Filmed in 2000 or thereabouts Darcus goes around the UK in search of Whiteness/ Englishness and its excellent. Even though its extremely topical, I’m struck by how different it is tonally to the anti-racism conversation today. I guess it far predates the mainstreaming of particular words, phrases and concepts and so is more authentic seeming to me in ways, if that makes sense? It’s very much Darcus’, unique perspective, rather then the somewhat more homogenized ‘anti-racist’ script of 2020. As you may know I have frustrations with the current framing of the conversation around race and racism, and am concerned by some of blind spots and as well as the priorities of a lot of the discourse, something I expand on in WWPCDN. White Tribe’s also just odd; peculiar shots, sinister music, occasional soft focus effects, all decisions that make for a somewhat eccentric series, which I love it about it, and Darcus throws hella shade, but in such a languorous, beautifully inflected Trinidadian accent, that you don’t realise until the blade is fully in and about to turn (woah my another knife metaphor, lockdown has taken its toll lol). Its just different to if it had been made now, anyway was reading today that one of the characteristics of authoritarian culture is the blandness of what it produces culturally and well, look around you…at the same time I really don’t want to be too negative about the current moment and I certainly don’t want to over eulogise the past. There are opportunities and possibilities for many of us today that just were not readily available before and I for one am grateful for that reality. So shout out now (ps full disclosure Ive just had a glass of wine, so feeling magnanimous !)

The other thing I’ve been loving this week is Cornell West and Tricia Rose podcast The Tight Rope, this episode, with the incomparable George Lipsitz George Lipsitz: The Eminem of Afro. American Studies (lol at the name)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDSIcPgNvnY

For anyone interested in racial justice this is A MUST LISTEN. I HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I dunno if y’all are familiar with the Black Radical Tradition but its what these cats are grounded in and it’s much more my bag then the more mainstream convo. Tbh I would love to look at some specific BRT texts in the bookclub; Black Marxism (Ive read a lot about but not actually read, its just been republished and Im waiting for my copy) , Future of Black Radicalism, The Undercommons Black Planning and Fugitive Study, they can be a little challenging so you know I dunno if its too much for people but let me know if you’ve any thoughts on that. They are liberatory beautiful texts and I would love to talk through the ideas in them with people in a reading club environment.

OK I’m out. Chat on Sunday pals ! x